VU's top rusher questionable to miss opener after surgery

Vanderbilt running back Warren Norman underwent arthroscopic knee surgery Wednesday and later was ruled out for the Sept. 4 season opener against Northwestern by coach Robbie Caldwell.

Team physician Kurt Spindler performed the procedure after Norman underwent an MRI on the knee in the morning.

"They scoped it, cleaned it up," Caldwell said. "He had a little piece floating around in there like we thought. Don’t’ know if it’s old, new, whatever, I didn’t ask them. I was just happy they cleaned it out.

"Warren says he’s gonna be ready the first game but it’ll probably be about two weeks. We don’t want to rush it. We want to make sure he's healthy."

Sophomore Zac Stacy and redshirt-freshman Wesley Tate are both expected to play against Northwestern, although each has had his own health issues in recent weeks.

"I feel certain they are (going to play)," Caldwell said.

Swelling in his knee kept Norman out of preseason workouts since last week. On Tuesday, the 2009 SEC Freshman of the Year performed individual drills, ran comfortably and made cuts.

Last fall he broke Herschel Walker’s SEC record for all-purpose yards by a freshman with 1,941 yards. He rushed for 783 yards, caught 19 passes for 108 yards, and had 1,050 yards on kickoff returns.